


Everything Changes

by pinkevilbob



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Episode 13 spoilers, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 02:57:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14416200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkevilbob/pseuds/pinkevilbob
Summary: What happens when a lone goblin and a scared little boy share a jail cell?





	Everything Changes

Nott managed to bite only one of the prisoner guards. She had only seen three there, but it was still embarrassing. The guard grabbed roughly around the back of her neck careful to keep her as far from him as possible.Struggling, she tried to break loose, but it was no use.

The door to a jail cell clanged open and Nott found herself thrown in and crashed into the one occupant. There was a tangled of limbs and a terrified pair of blue eyes. Nott scrambled away before she could be kicked. The man curled tight in the corner of cell rocking and repeating the number nine over and over again. 

It was like he was scared of her, but no one was scared of just one goblin. That's why they stayed in hordes. Well, all except for Nott, of course. The correct response to just one goblin was hatred.

The man muttered something in some language Nott didn't know, but he didn't move either which was fine with her. She sat on the other side of cell almost opposite but not quite (she wasn't dumb enough to get close to the bars). Her eyes never left him for the rest of day just in case he tried something. It was almost disappointing. The only part of him that moved where his lips constantly whispering to himself if you didn't count the rocking. 

It must have been exhausting as eventually he stopped and appeared to fall asleep . Nott didn't dare to. He could have been faking it and waiting to attack. She was used to staying awake anyways. The man startled awake not too long into the night, so maybe he hadn't faked it. Tears ran down his face as he stared down at his hands. He couldn't possible see them. Human eyes were useless in the dark. 

The rocking started again. Nott was close to yelling at him to stop it when he finally seemed to calm down and stopped. He was still awake and staring at where she was earlier (still was, but he was probably just guessing). Even in the dark she could still tell how afraid he was, whether of her or in general though was trickier. 

In the morning, two trays of food were slid in. Neither of them had enough food on them, but one had more than the other. It was probably for the human. Nott dashed forward and grabbed the bigger of the two trays. IT was going to earn her a kick, she knew that, but she could still eat it if the food was spilled on the floor (humans were very weird about that). She had brought her food to her spot and waited for the inevitable, hunched protectively over the food (the term was used loosely). 

Only, it didn't come. Instead the man stared at the other tray licking his lips but not moving for it. No, she corrected herself, The boy stared hungrily at the small tray to frightened to move. She sighed, got up and shoved the tray to him. It stopped a couple of feet short of him. He looked back and forth at her and the tray. 

"Well? Eat," Nott said. The boy goggled at her. He must have not spoken Common. Not her problem Nott figured. She dug into her food, a nearly moldy hard heel of bread and some kind of grey mush that may have been stew. But, it wasn't the worst thing she had ever eaten. 

Half way through she looked up to see how the boy was eating (not that Nott cared) (that may have been a lie, but it was the kind of lie that kept a lone goblin from being too kind and finding herself dead). He wasn't. The tray still was where she left it. A groan left her lips. "Hey, hey," she called out.

The boy looked at her. There was still fear in his eyes, but also confusion now. Nott made a big show of scooping up the mush with some of the bread and taking a bit of it. "See? Good." He stared at her. Maybe it was pointless. But, then he quickly grabbed the tray and brought it to his corner. His eyes never left her as he ate.

After they ate the rest of the day was spent staring at each other. But at least he had stopped the rocking.The fear in his eyes were still there though.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Nott said softly. "Not unless you hurt me." Why she was talking to a boy that couldn't speak common she didn't know. Maybe the cell was getting to her. Not that she had anyway of escaping. The guards took her lock-picks. 

Despite her best efforts, Nott feel asleep that night. By this point she wasn't afraid of the boy attacking her. He didn't have it in him to go all the way across the cell. But, still didn't feel stay to sleep there. Who knew what the guards would do.

She was startled out her sleep by screaming. It sounded like someone was being tortured or burned alive. Nott got up reflexively grabbing for her crossbow ... that wasn't there. Looking around for the source, she found it was just the boy. 

It was like he was both asleep and not. His eyes were open, but even if he could see in the dark, Nott felt like he wouldn't have been able to see anything anyways.

Swearing came from the entrance of the prison as one of the guards came in. He wrenched the door of the cell open and grabbed Caleb roughly by his hair. Dragging the boy out, the guard barely paid Nott any attention.

The guard returned the boy a few hours later, not that Nott was waiting. The boy was beaten and battered, but he managed to crawl back to his corner after he was thrown it. He tried to rock, but hissed in pain when he tried. 

When the morning finally came, so did the two paltry trays of food. Nott's stomach rumbled at the sight of it. The boy was too hurt to fight. She could have easily taken both for herself. Instead, she found herself sliding the larger tray to the boy. He looked up at her, eyes wide again with fear.

"I'm Nott," she said. "You should eat up. You'll need your strength."

He winced at getting up, but this time he just focused on his food as he ate.

Hours passed in silence, but this time with less staring. Or at least to Nott it felt like looking rather than staring. Out of nowhere the quiet was broken. 

"Caleb."

Nott jolted. "What?"

"My name is Caleb Widogast." The boy spoke with a thick accent. 

"It's-it's nice to meet you, Caleb," Nott said.

Caleb smiled sadly at the sound of his name and the silence returned

******

The screaming woke Nott up again. Caleb's eyes were again unseeing and he pulled at his hair. Nott scrambled over to him, trying to quiet him, but it was no use.

A guard came in, swearing up another storm. He grabbed Caleb by the scruff of his shirt choking him. The guard started to drag the boy, Caleb, her boy, away, and Nott was not going to have it. 

She lept at the guard hissing and scratching. Nott managed to get a good bite in before he threw her against the wall dropping Caleb. Her head was spinning as The screaming had stopped and her boy was forgotten on the floor.

*****

It felt like an eternity before the guards tossed her back into the cell. Everything hurt. Nott knew better than to stay in the middle of the cell, but the idea of moving filled her with dread. Something, someone carefully lifted her up. She opened an eye to see Caleb, her boy carrying her to his corner. "You shouldn't have done that," he said. "You didn't need to do that."

"I thought we'd take turns pissing off the guards. Why should you have all the fun?" she wheezed.

Caleb chuckled. It wasn't a good sound, all croaky from lack of use, but Nott could see herself growing to like it.

"Go to sleep," he said. "You'll feel better in the morning."

"No I won't."

Caleb laughed this time, equally as grating. "True, mein freund, that's probably true." He sighed like all the weight of the world was on his shoulders. "You can't stay here. It's dangerous."

"You shouldn't either," Nott pointed out.

He was silent for a long moment. "It's dangerous outside too."

Nott knew that all too well as a goblin. "But, you're a human. Humans, they, you, run everything."

A dry laugh this time. "I wish. Really, you should sleep."

"I slept enough already," Nott said. "Why are you in here?"

"I'd rather not say."

Nott hummed. "I got caught being a goblin and well, I might stolen a cane or two."

"A cane?" her boy asked. His voice dripped with curiosity. 

"I like sticks. I collect them," she said.

"And canes are sticks?"

"The fanciest ones," Nott said. "It was a real good one too."

Caleb went silent for a moment again. Nott almost thought he was back to being silent again when he spoke up. "So you're a theif. Have you ever considered having a partner?"

"Who would ever agree to being a goblin's partner?" she asked.

"Ah, a good point. I don't know though. I think we could be a good team."

Nott nearly sat up but her body reminded her of just how much pain she was in. "Really?"

"Ja." He cleared his throat. "Yes."

"So we'll break out," Nott said. There was no comment from Caleb, but she kept talking anyways. "What would we do when we get out?"

It turned out that Caleb was very smart and had a lot of very good ideas. He'd come up with them out of the thin air and Nott would name them or add to them. Also, he always knew what time it was just based on what little they could see of the sun and he remembered everything (not everything everything, but a whole month of everythings which was still incredible). Nott was proud of how intelligent her boy was. But then she found out his greatest gift.

"YOU KNOW MAGIC?!" This time she could help but sit up.

"Shh. It's not that big of a deal," he said.

Nott shook her head. "No, it really is. You can magic us out."

He sighed that heavy sigh again. "Not without the proper components. I'm nothing without them."

"But if we get them, you can do anything."

"Not anything," Caleb said. "I'm not very strong yet."

"Yet?" Nott asked. "You can get stronger? How?"

"Books." She could hear the wistful smile without looking at his face.

Nott rubbed her chin. "So we get you books and you become strong?"

"That's oversimplifying it, but basically yes."

"What else would you need?"

The rest of the night was spent with Caleb reciting his spells and what they took and tell her all about his cat. He sounded like a good cat, but not one for eating. 

The sun rose too soon for Nott's taste. The guard came noisily down and Nott hurried away from Caleb's side. Caleb pressed himself against the wall, a whimper escaping his lips. He was not as bad as the day before, but most of the fear had returned to him. 

Nott grabbed the trays and handed Caleb the larger one, but he refused it taking the smaller one instead. "You'll need your strength," he whispered.

They were both quiet again. "We're getting you out tonight," Caleb said.

"We are?" Nott asked. "And you too." She was not going to leave her boy here.

"We'll see about that," he said. "But I've got a plan."

Nott leaned in close as he explained it. It was risky for both of them, but Nott was willing to take those risks.

*******

There was screaming again that night, but this time she was expecting it. Nott kept to the wall wincing as the guard took Caleb away. She snuck out of the cell as the guard slammed the door not even noticing her. Creeping along, she followed them.

Nott knocked the guard out before they even got half way down the hall. "Are you alright, Caleb?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he said grabbing the guard's keys. "Now go."

"You're going with me," she said leaving no room for argument.

He said something that sounded sad in that other language. "There's no place for me out there."

"And there is for me? A goblin all by herself?" Nott asked. "I need you and you need me. Neither of us to make it alone whether it's here or out there. So please, come with me."

Caleb looked down at her and nodded. "Help me put him in the cell."

They locked the guard in their old cell and then Caleb became the guard.

Nott jumped back. "Caleb?"

"Yes, it's me. It's just a spell," he said. It was strange hearing Caleb's voice come out of the guard's mouth. "I could probably teach it to you one day."

"Really?"

"Yes, but let's get going."

Caleb stopped them right outside the guards' chambers. "There's some things I need to get first. You stay out here."

Nott nodded. It felt like a bad idea, but Caleb was smart so she trusted that he knew what he was doing.

She could only here what was going on the other guards were asking what he was doing. Caleb bluffed, but even Nott could tell that he was bluffing poorly. And then the guard in the cell started shouting.

Caleb probably swore in his other language and then there was fire, everywhere. He ran out of the room with an arm full of books in one arm and scooped up Nott with his other arm. He kept running long after the guards stopped chasing them. 

Putting Nott down, Caleb collapsed next to a tree breathing hard. "We did it. We actually did it."

"Caleb, you're amazing!" Nott cried out.

"It was just an illusion and a simple cantrip." But that didn't stop the grin on his face.

Nott shook her head. "You freed us! It was plan, your spells."

He ruffled her hair. "Mein freund, it was you who freed me first."

Nott didn't understand what he was talking about and didn't like him messing her hair, but she's was the proudest she could imagine any mother being. It was going to be rough, she knew that, but she also knew that she was going to raise her boy right and make him strong.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked this fic. Caleb's and Nott's relationship is really important to me and I wanted to play with what the prison might have been like in light of episode 13. The title references "Everything Changes" from Waitress the Musical. If there is anything that needs tagging that I missed, please let me know.


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